Many agricultural producers are now trying to have something living or “green and growing” in their soil for as long over the calendar year as possible. This requires the use of cover crops in addition your primary crop.

It seems that when it rains it pours and when it gets dry it stays dry for extended periods of time. This year has been no different. April started dry. May had some wet periods and early June was extremely wet in Southeast Pennsylvania. But, it is likely at some point this summer we will need irrigation for our vegetable crops. There are many ways to irrigate vegetable crops depending on your crops and growing methods.

Wet, warm and humid July weather means that plant diseases are spreading. Two of the more important vegetable diseases downy mildew on cucurbits including cucumbers and late blight of tomato and potato are in the area. Make sure you are aware of what diseases to scout for and how to prevent their spread.

Do you plan to direct market? With only $0.18 of every dollar spent on food going to the farmer, direct marketing might help you capture more cents toward your farm revenue. However, as a food retailer you will be responsible for a potentially longish list of regulations and regulators. This brief article will start you thinking about who to contact and what rules might apply to your Pennsylvania farm.

Recently I have been receiving a lot of requests for help finding farmland to buy or lease. I wanted share a collection of resources to help you find land and considerations to make before you rent or buy.

Cucumbers, Summer Squash, and Winter Squash have a number of serious pests: cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and vine borer. Cucumber beetles also transmit bacterial wilt, squash mosaic virus, increase the incidence of powdery mildew, black rot and powdery mildew. Make sure you use cultural controls to manage these pests from the start!

For consumers (and some very enthusiastic vendors), this time of year elicits shrikes of excitement and sheer joy as people line up to see which vendor has the early asparagus, rhubarb, or coveted dry beans preserved from fall harvest.

It’s been all too common that an older generation of farmers pondering: “Who will take over after I retire?” has been left without an answer. Yet there is a significant younger generation asking: “How can I get started?”

As you are about to shear your sheep this spring I thought you might want to review our sheep shearing videos. Mike Fournier, Penn State Extension demonstrates the six shearing positions as well as tool maintenance.

Right now, livestock farmers are in a difficult position. Feed prices have skyrocketed and it can be difficult to pass that entire increase on to our customers without having very expensive chicken that might be out of the range of most of our customers. We might need to raise our prices to help recoup some of the cost but we also need to find areas where we can improve efficiencies, cut costs, and know where our greatest expenses lie.